Congressional Staffers Work on IRS Scandal Through Recess

Congressional staffers continue to work on the Internal Revenue Service scandal by preparing documents and related materials for lawmakers to be ready when they return from the Memorial Day recess in June.

The Memorial Day recess gives aides time to go through hundreds of pages of documents requested by Congress from the IRS and the Treasury inspector general, as well as gather more materials,The Hill reports.

There are also several IRS staffers that lawmakers want to interview, focusing on the Cincinnati office where the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status began.

"Right now, we're entering this document-collection phase, interview phase," Republican Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana, chairman of the House Ways and Means Oversight subcommittee, told reporters Thursday. "And then there will be more hearings in June when we get back."

Danny Werfel, the new IRS commissioner who was appointed last week, is also overseeing his own investigation into how the targeting of conservative groups began in order to make sure it doesn't happen again, The Hill reports.

Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, as well as the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan, have asked for any information on the IRS and their communications with the White House and the Treasury Department.

"Chairman Camp and I have been talking about next steps," Boustany said. "We want to pause, look at what we have and then formulate those next steps. But we do know there's still information gathering that needs to be done."

Rep. Darrell Issa of California, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said last week that he will be working on the IRS controversy full time, and he has not yet ruled out links to the Treasury Department and White House to the IRS targeting.

Congressional staffers continue to work on the Internal Revenue Service scandal by preparing documents and related materials for lawmakers to be ready when they return from the Memorial Day recess in June. The Memorial Day recess gives aides time to go through hundreds of...